A Beautiful Thing in an Ugly Package
by devonandersonn
Summary: Princess Isabella, about to take the throne, must get married before she can be queen. She doesn't want to, she has a boyfriend, but does for the good of her country. Prince Edward has always been in love with Bella, but was never brave enough to tell her


**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. It belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

**Here's my new story… Thanks for reading! And tell me what you think, because I'm not so sure about this one…. Btw, I know **_**nothing**_** about Europe, so if I get something wrong, I'm really sorry! Read on!**

**BPOV**

"What do you mean?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"It's the law Isabella. There's nothing we can do. We're sorry." Aro, Caius, and Marcus sure didn't _look _sorry.

My mother, Renee, died during child birth. Charlie, my father, died when I was only two years old. Uncle Aro and Aunt Sulpicia raised me as their own after that.

I was an only child and the heir to the Italian throne. I was always told that I would become Queen and no one could take that from me. My uncles never had any children, and even if they did it would have to be a boy to take the throne away from me.

Now, all of a sudden, they were saying I had to get married! Since when did that matter? I could rule a country by myself. I didn't need a man to help me.

"He's a very nice young man. You might know him actually. Edward Cullen, he's Prince of England and would become a great king. The marriage would join our two countries together and we would become a great empire and get out of our national debt. It would also stop the animosity between the English and the Italian. I have talked to the King, who is a dear friend of mine, and he also thinks it is a great idea. You cannot become queen without a husband and it's not going to be that boy you are dating now. He's a peasant and I told you he was no good from the beginning. It's a win-win for everyone."

That was obviously the last word Aro had on the subject. He rose from his seat and gestured for my other uncles, Caius and Marcus, to leave with him.

I stood there in the empty throne room unable to process what I had just heard. Win-win for everyone? Yeah, right.

I looked at the seat in the middle of the room. That seat belonged to me. It was the throne that royalty for the past 500 years had sat on.

Aro sat on it now.

My father before him.

I was destined to be there and if I got married, it wouldn't be me that sat on the throne, it would be my husband.

What was more important to me? My pride or love for my country.

My uncles were right. If we joined England and Italy together we would be unstoppable and if it could clear our debt that would be a major plus. We had been fighting ever since the history books could remember. Why? I had no clue, but that would also be a plus. We could accomplish so much if our two countries would just cooperate with each other.

And Edward _would _be a great king. He would be an amazing king.

I had known Edward and his little sister Alice since I was five. Sulpicia had wanted me to become social at a young age, and I could just become friends with commoners, of course not, so she had as far as setup play date with the royal families of different countries.

I had met with Spain, Scotland, France, and Belgium, but never really like them all too much. They were very nice, but we had to be, otherwise we might start a war over someone stealing the others crayons.

Edward and Alice were different. They seemed…. Genuine. They were really just good people and weren't faking it. At first I was the closest with Alice, Edward acting all high and mighty because he was a year older than us.

Alice's personality was almost the complete opposite of mine. She was spunky and always full of energy. She loved fashion and always felt that even on the dreariest of days, shopping could fix everything. Her raven black hair was cropped short and spiked. She was one of the shortest people I knew standing at a menacing four foot eleven inches, but made up for it with her fiery attitude. You defiantly don't want to make Alice Cullen mad.

We were inseparable until we turned thirteen.

When Alice met Jasper Whitlock she was determined that they would be together forever. Even when he didn't even know she existed, she was certain he would be hers. And when she asked him out, it was pretty hard for him to say no; she went into the boy's locker room and refused to leave unless he said yes.

I know she didn't mean to blow me off, she just got… distracted. Alice and Jasper were perfect for each other and fell totally and completely in love. She felt really bad whenever she would cancel on me and always tried to reschedule, but I encouraged her to spend time with her new boyfriend. When two people were that right together, it's a crime to try and keep them apart.

So that left me, alone in the world with no one to go to the movies with. Okay, I'm being dramatic. I had other friends in Italy; we just weren't as close as Alice and I were. That all changed one September day.

I was visiting the Cullens for my birthday. Alice was watching one of Jasper's polo matches. I was invited to go along, but I didn't want to feel like a third wheel. I was walking through the Cullens rose garden, stopping to admire the beauty of one of the white rose bushes, when I heard someone humming behind me.

I turned around to see Edward walking through the garden a couple yards away from me.

I turned away walking as fast as I could away from him. It's not that I didn't like him, in reality; I had a bit of a crush on him.

"Hey!" He called from across the garden. I turned to face him.

"Where's the fire?" He was laughing causing me to flush red.

"I was just, um, getting some exercise," I improvised, "All the scientist say that… to get a better work out you should walk faster… to increase your….."

"Your what?" Edward asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Your… Metabolism! It helps you burn fat faster!" I was quite proud of myself for coming up with a legit explanation.

He smirked. "Do you mind if I keep you company?"

"I guess not."

"You guess?" He raised an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go pretty boy."

He laughed and after we were done walking through the garden we spent the rest of the afternoon together.

After that day, whenever Alice would go off with Jasper, Edward and I would hang out and he became one of my best friends.

We actually had a lot in common. We both like that same kind of music and movies. We read the same books. We even shared a hatred of Michael Newton, the prince of Belgium. We didn't know why we despised him, we just did.

"Miss Isabella, the king requests your presence."

"Annabeth, I told you, call me Bella." I hated being called Isabella.

Annabeth smiled, "Of course Miss Bella, my mistake."

I followed Annabeth through the maze of halls and corridors of the palace, though I knew the way myself. Truth be told I just wanted to talk to someone. Someone who would listen to me when I talked without interrupting me and telling me I was wrong.

Annabeth, Cecelia, and Marcy always listened to my ranting whenever I ranted and gave me the best advice. Cecelia and Marcy were a couple years older than me in their twenties, but Annabeth, my mom's confident when she was my age, is in her late thirties.

She nodded and smiled when she was supposed to, and when I was done had this to say: "Think of it this way Miss Bella, sometimes, beautiful things come in ugly packages." Then she left without another word.

I stood outside the doors of my uncle's office, debating whether or not to make a break for it and run away, or walk in there with my head held high and accept what was to come.

I made a compromise and walked in slouching my shoulders with a scowl on my face.

"Don't be like that Isabella," Aro said frowning.

"Don't call me Isabella," I mimicked his tone.

"Isabella is the name your parents gave you. You should be proud of it."

I rolled my eyes.

"I just got off of the phone with Carlisle Cullen; he agrees that we should meet together face to face to discuss this." He got up out off his seat and walked around his desk, the only barrier between us that was keeping me from rearranging his face. Hmmm…. I'm usually not this violent of a person…

"You talk like this is a business deal instead of a marriage," I said bitterly.

"Well, it almost is. We have legal and political differences we have to settle and if we want this marriage to go through without a hitch we need to agree on a couple of minor things." He trailed off thinking.

"But I don't want this marriage to go through," I said defiantly.

"Bella," Oh great. He only calls me that when he's trying to persuade me to do something, "You're about to turn eighteen, which is the age you should take the throne. The only way is-"

"I know! I know! I have to get married," I cut him off.

"The royal family is coming in three days. You have that long to warm to the idea."

"What if I don't want to 'warm up to the idea' at all?"

"To bad."

I ran out of his office right before the tears started to fall directly into Marcy and Cecelia.

"What's wrong?" Marcy asked putting her arm around me while Cecelia wiped the tears from my face. They were always the big sisters I never had.

"You didn't hear?"

They shook their heads no.

"I have to get married!" I wailed starting to tear up again.

I continued through my tears, "I can't take the throne unless I have a husband, so Aro arranged a marriage."

"With who?" Cecelia asked handing me a tissue.

I sighed, "Edward."

"Edward Cullen?" They shrieked simultaneously.

"Yeah….. What other Edward do I know?" What was the big deal?

"Bella! What's so bad about getting married to _Edward Cullen_? He's totally gorgeous! And he's your best friend so you don't have to worry about not getting along, so he's not the worst guy you could end up with," Cecelia said like it should be obvious. Marcy just shook her head, laughing at her friend.

Cecelia, being only twenty one, swore that Edward Cullen was God's gift to woman.

Marcy was a little more practical and, though admitting that he was extremely cute, said she didn't want to have to turn into a cougar at age twenty five.

"Even though I disagree with _so_ many things that she just said, Cecelia does have a point. Edward is a great guy. What's so bad about marrying him?" Marcy asked.

"It's not Edward, it's just," I sighed, "I don't know. I guess it's more about power, control. I don't want to be pressured into marriage. If I get married, I want it to be because I love the person, not because of a law. Besides, Edward and I are just friends."

"Maybe you could learn to love him," Marcy said softly.

"Marcy, I do _have_ a boyfriend," I pointed out.

"I've never cared for him," She said more to herself than me.

"Yeah," Cecelia agreed, "He always makes blonde jokes when he's around me." Cecelia had long, uncontrollable curly blonde hair that she almost always kept up in a ponytail.

"Maybe he wouldn't so much if you didn't _act_ like a blonde all of the time," I teased.

She sniffed. "He still has no right."

Marcy laughed along with me, pushing a stray piece of her mahogany colored hair behind her ear.

I sighed. "I better go; my history tutor will have a fit if I'm late again."

"See you, Bella. And who knows, maybe this will turn out for the better." And with that Marcy with Cecelia trailing behind her, went off to finish their afternoon chores.

Maybe they were right. Maybe this could be a good thing. I could like being married to Edward, and like Marcy said, maybe I could learn to love him. We were great friends and got along well. This could all work out if I kept an open mind. This would be a good thing.

"Hey, Bells!" Jacob said pulling me into his warm embrace.

Or this could be a _horrible_ thing.

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